University of Central Arkansas - Scroll Yearbook (Conway, AR)

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Mrs. Ruby Chick

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1' --., it-1 'th- V Z..f x Student Center Jufraducfim In 1907 the General Assembly of Arkansas passed as act to provide for the establishment and main- tenance of a state Normal School for the State of Arkansas. The purpose of the school as stated in the legislation was the preparation and training of persons, both male and female, citizens of the state and desiring to teach therein. Thus was the beginning of the second oldest state supported institution of higher learning. The founding legislation did not specify a location for the school. Several cities tried to secure the school before Conway was selected as the site. In seeking its locations the city bid 351,753 in cash and pledged itself to provide the necessary water and facilities, a septic tank, electricity, concrete sidewalks from town to the Normal grounds, and a strip of land on the north side of the campus for a street. The Normal School formally opened for instruction in September of 1908. I. I. Doyne was named the first president. He was succeeded in 1917 by B. W. Torrey- son. During IV1r. Torreyson's tenure the name of the school was changed to the Arkansas State Teachers College. Later presidents were H. L. McA1ister and Nolen M. Irby. The first alumnus to hold a high ad- ministrative position was Silas D. Snow who was named president of the college in 1953. The Science Building, Doyne Hall and the Green Building were the first buildings erected on campus. Today the phystcal plant includes thirty major buildings valued at more than six and one-half million dollars. Since 1957 there has been a 12 per cent gain in enrollment each year. Last fall some 2,300 students registered for classes. Due to this increased enrollment, ASTC is in the midst of the largest building program in its history. The new Administration Building was recently completed at a cost of S400,000. Denny Hall for upper-class women opened last fall and present plans call for several more dormitories to be erected within the next ten years. Construction is well under way on the 31,200,000 Torreyson Library and the W. C. Ferguson Memorial Chapel. The Student Center and the cafeteria are both being enlarged to accommodate the increasing number of students. ASTC granted its first baccalaureate degree in 1922. The college now grants the Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science in Education, the Bachelor of Music in Education degrees. A program of graduate studies was inaugurated in 1955. The college is accredited by eight recognized accrediting agencies. More than 2,000 attended the Arkansas State Teachers College each semester. Over 70,000 persons have attended ASTC throughout its history and 9,000 persons have received degrees. Approximately 430 people are graduated from ASTC each year.

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Zledimiizfn For many years the motto of The Arkansas State Teachers College has been the friendliest college in Arkansas. We, the students, the faculty and the administration all strive toward this goal. One staff member, more than anyone else, stands out as a person who expresses this motto. Whether meeting a person along the walk to the Student Center or in the Dean's Office, she has a smile and hello for everyone. She has been a member of the staff for eighteen years, serving as secretary to the Dean of the college. She assumed this position upon the death of her husband and has proven to be an excellent staff member as well as an ideal mother of two children -Norma, a junior at ASTC. and Tommy, a recent ASTC graduate and now a sophomore at the Univer- sity of Arkansas School of Medicine. In addition to her work at the college, she has served as a Sunday School teacher at the First Baptist Church in Conway for many years. Because of your loyalty and your dedication to The Arkansas State Teachers College and because of the many small things you do to help the students, we dedicate this volume of the Scroll to you, Mrs. Ruby Chick. ln addition to her duties as secretary to the Dean, Mrs. Chick assists students in solving many small problems. Mrs. Chick's warm personality is revealed either by a teleph one call or a visit to the Dean's office.